Mosquito bites help doctors

Submitted by Thomas Hesselberg on Sun, 09/28/2008 - 17:17

A new study by American engineers has shown how biting behaviour and the anatomy of the proboscis of the mosquito Aedes egypti, can be used to develop painless biomimetic micro-needles.

The main finding is that the elastic mateial at the base of the proboscis seem to the main reason why the proboscis, which is a long and thin hollow tube, does not buckle while penetrating the skin and tissue.

Read the full story here.

Source:
Ramasubramanian, MK, Barham, OM and Swaminathan, V (2008). Mechanics of a mosquito bite with applications to microneedle design. Bioinspiration & Biomimetic 3. doi:10.1088/1748-3182/3/4/046001.

All the universities in the world

Submitted by Thomas Hesselberg on Thu, 09/18/2008 - 04:44

A new website Ullbe.com claims to have the biggest database of universities in the world.

And true enough if you look at a small country like Denmark, then it lists not less than 146 universities (compared to Wikipedia which lists 8). Ullbe.com seems to include all small vocational educational facilities as well as musical schools. Although you can sort the search after popularity (defined how??) then the database gives a disorganised and chaotic impression.

However, it not so indiscriminate for other countries. In the United Kingdom it lists 200 universities compared to the 325 institutions recognised by the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admission Service). In Panama it lists only 12, which also seems to be an underestimate considering all the small private universities in the capital alone.

High grain prices are here to stay

Submitted by Lennart Kiil on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 21:31

An ethanol-fueled spike in grain prices will likely hold, yielding the first sustained increase for corn, wheat and soybean prices in more than three decades, according to new research by two University of Illinois farm economists.

Corn, an ethanol ingredient that has driven the recent price surge, could average $4.60 a bushel in Illinois, nearly double the average $2.42 a bushel from 1973 to 2006, said Darrel Good and Scott Irwin, professors of agriculture and consumer economics.

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